[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 48 (Thursday, April 27, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S3694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      SEVEN YEARS AFTER COLUMBINE

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, last Thursday marked the seventh 
anniversary of the tragic Columbine High School shooting. None of us 
will forget the sight of hundreds of terrified students running out of 
their high school while police and S.W.A.T. team members frantically 
searched for 2 young gunmen who, before taking their own lives, had 
murdered 12 innocent children, a teacher, and wounded 2 dozen other 
students.
  In the aftermath of the Columbine tragedy, I said I would try to make 
a statement each week on the issue of commonsense gun safety to help 
draw attention to an issue that, unfortunately, continues to go 
unaddressed. Heidi Yewman, who graduated from Columbine High School 13 
years before the shooting, wrote about her frustrations and the lack of 
congressional attention to this issue in a recent newspaper editorial. 
As she put it, ``This summer I will attend my 20-year high school 
reunion, and Topic A will be as it has been for the past seven years 
the massacre and what hasn't happened since.'' I will ask that the text 
of Ms. Yewman's editorial be printed in the Record.
  One of the things mentioned by Ms. Yewman that hasn't happened since 
the Columbine High School shootings is a Federal requirement of a 
background check on the sale of all firearms, including those that are 
sold at gun shows. Under current law, when an individual buys a firearm 
from a licensed dealer, there are Federal requirements for a background 
check to insure that the purchaser is not prohibited by law from 
purchasing or possessing a gun. However, this is not the case for all 
gun purchases. For example, when an individual wants to buy a firearm 
from another private citizen who is not a licensed gun dealer, there is 
no Federal requirement that the seller ensure the purchaser is not in a 
prohibited category. This creates a loophole in the law, making it easy 
for criminals, terrorists, and other prohibited buyers to evade 
background checks and buy guns from private citizens. This loophole 
creates a gateway to the illegal market because criminals know they 
will not be subject to a background check when purchasing from another 
private citizen even at a gun show.
  During the 108th Congress, I cosponsored an amendment that passed the 
Senate which would have required background checks on all firearms sold 
at gun shows. However, when the Senate passed the amendment, the 
National Rifle Association and its allies in the Senate then removed 
their support for the underlying bill and it was defeated. 
Unfortunately, the Senate has failed to address this important gun 
safety issue since.
  In the years since the Columbine High School shootings, Congress has 
also failed to renew the 1994 assault weapons ban. On September 13, 
2004, this legislation was allowed to expire, allowing 19 previously 
banned assault weapons, including the TEC-9 handgun used by the 
Columbine shooters, and other firearms with military style features to 
be legally sold again.
  I have cosponsored legislation to reauthorize and strengthen the 
assault weapons ban. Last Congress, the Senate adopted an amendment to 
reauthorize the assault weapons ban for 10 years. However, like the 
amendment to close the gun show loophole, the bill to which the 
amendment was attached was later defeated, and despite the fact that a 
bipartisan majority of Senators voted to support reauthorizing the ban 
on assault weapons, the Republican leadership has refused to schedule 
another vote on the issue.
  Mr. President, the threat of gun violence in our schools and 
communities has not diminished. Last week alone, as families and 
friends remembered those who were lost in the Columbine shootings, law 
enforcement officials apparently thwarted planned Columbine-style 
school shootings in Kansas, Alaska, Mississippi, and Washington. 
According to published reports, students in at least two of these small 
towns had already acquired the guns and ammunition necessary to carry 
out such an attack.
  Were it not for the courage of the students who stepped forward to 
report violent threats from their fellow students and the investigative 
work by law enforcement officials that followed, another community 
might well have had to face the horror that the residents of Littleton, 
CO, faced 7 years ago. Congress must take up and pass common sense gun 
safety legislation to help prevent such tragedies from occurring in the 
future.
  I ask unanimous consent that the before-mentioned editorial be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                  [From the Columbian, Apr. 16, 2006]

         Local View: Gun Advocates Ignore Lessons of Columbine

                           (By Heidi Yewman)

       This summer I will attend my 20-year high school reunion, 
     and Topic A will be as it has been for the past seven years--
     the massacre and what hasn't happened since.
       Seven years ago, this Thursday (April 20), two teenage 
     gunmen massacred 12 students and one teacher at my school, 
     Columbine High in Colorado. That teacher, my high school 
     basketball coach Dave Sanders, bled to death after being shot 
     in the chest; 24 other people were injured.
       It was a terrible, sad day that sparked massive debate 
     regarding guns and gun laws in the United States. Much 
     discussion also centered on the nature of high school cliques 
     and bullying, violent movies and video games, but mostly on 
     guns like the two shotguns, the assault rifle, and the TEC-9 
     assault pistol that the two troubled kids at Columbine used 
     to shoot their victims before killing themselves.
       So what exactly has changed as a result of all that 
     despair, discussion and debate?
       Virtually nothing.
       Colorado and Oregon immediately passed initiatives 
     requiring background checks at gun shows. Today 32 states 
     still do not require background checks on gun purchases at 
     gun shows including Washington.
       The Federal Assault Weapons Ban expired in 1994 and was not 
     renewed, putting guns like Tec-9s back on the streets.
       In 2005 Congress passed and the president signed into law a 
     measure that, astonishingly, provides immunity from 
     prosecution for gun manufacturers and sellers.
       The National Rifle Association is pushing hard to pass 
     ``take-your-guns-to-work'' laws in all 50 states that would 
     turn companies into criminals if they barred guns on their 
     private property. So far the legislation has been introduced 
     in 11 states.
       Seven states have passed legislation that eliminates a 
     citizen's duty to avoid a threat, and allow the use of deadly 
     force before other options when a gun user simply feels 
     threatened.
       You've got to give the NRA credit. It is an effective 
     lobbying organization that fights hard for its beliefs and 
     has enjoyed remarkable success in the past seven years. But 
     at what price? If only common sense had lobbyists.


                          A massacre every day

       Since the Columbine tragedy, 210,000 people have died in 
     America due to gun violence, and school shootings continue to 
     occur without much notice. Can you even remember the names of 
     the schools where kids were shot and killed in the past seven 
     years? It's become routine news, sandwiched between the 
     latest from Iraq and the weather.
       Since 9/11, America has monitored library cards, listened 
     in on cell phone calls, tracked fertilizer purchases, and 
     made us take our shoes off before boarding an airplane, but 
     it has done almost nothing to make it harder for either 
     terrorists or criminals to buy guns. We continue to put the 
     right to own a Tec-9 over common sense precautions to protect 
     our nation and our kids. I find such inaction inexcusable.
       Columbine did mobilize millions of moms across the nation, 
     and a small, vocal minority is railing against this country's 
     gun culture. In March, 32 states received grades of D's or 
     F's in the Brady Campaign's 2005 annual report card. 
     Washington state earned a D-plus and Oregon got a C-minus 
     because they haven't passed common sense gun laws that 
     protect our children and families. Do we perhaps think that, 
     because our memories have faded, the threat is any less real? 
     Don't we know that 10 of the 19 school shootings since 
     Columbine happened in the spring? Didn't Benjamin Franklin 
     say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing 
     over and over and expecting different results?
       On April 20, 1999 I saw my high school turned into a morgue 
     for innocent teenagers. I truly thought the carnage would 
     prompt some meaningful change.
       I was wrong.
       I guess we're all just hoping that our child, our school 
     isn't next. But wishing won't make it so. What we can do is 
     call on our legislators to pass a law requiring background 
     checks at gun shows in 2007, legislation that we have been 
     trying to pass in Washington since Columbine.
       I wonder if at my 30-year reunion the massacre at Columbine 
     High School will still be ``the worst school shooting in U.S. 
     history.''
       Sadly, I doubt it.

       

                          ____________________